USA > New York > Jefferson County > A history of Jefferson County in the state of New York, from the earliest period to the present time > Part 45
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Knights of Jericho. Chrystal Fountain Lodge, No. 50, of Theresa, was formed February 2, 1853, with Silas L. George, E. Johnson, Tho's L. Gale, Roswell C. Flower, C. E. Zwick, C. H. Helmer, Wm. Fayel, R. Hildreth, Lawrence Clark, H. Holdenhouse, A. G. Ruyther, A. P. Salisbury, L. C. Hungerford, Geo. W. Goodnough, Gilbert Townsend, G. W. Cornwell, David Barrup, Oscar Cornwell, Davis Ballard, Chas. W. Flemming, M. Prindle, Justin Kelsey, E. J. Pearce, and Joseph Fayel, first members. D. Ballard was elected first W. C., and after him Michael Prindle. Kama Lodge, No. 56, was instituted at Alex- andria Centre, September 7, 1853, and the first month numbered about thirty members.
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Watertown Mechanics' Association.
The Jefferson County Industrial Association, a joint stock company of 5000 shares, at $10 each, was formed in May 1843, at Watertown, having for its objects a union of labor and cap- ital after the plan of Fourrier. It at one time numbered nearly 400 persons, but after existing a little more than a year it was dissolved; the numbers having been reduced to less than 100. An establishment was formed two miles east of Watertown at Cold Brook, in which vicinity about 600 acres of land had been purchased, mechanic shops fitted up, and conveniences for fami- lies erected. Affairs were to be managed by a president, vice president, and twelve directors, and an account of labor, board, clothing &c., was to be kept with each.
The Watertown Mechanics' Association was formed August 13, 1844, by a committee consisting of two from each trade ap- pointed by a convention held the week previous. The objects of the association as set forth in their constitution, are the cul- tivation and improvement of the moral, social and intellectual fac- ulties, by diffusing information upon subjects connected with the mechanic arts, by exhibiting improvements, by discussing the principles of mechanism, collecting statistics, and in such other ways as might be deemed useful. Mechanics, artizans, and manufacturers might become members of the associations by sign- ing the constitution, and paying $1 in semi-annual payments. Fairs might be held at such times as might be appointed, and weekly discussions and debates were to be held.
The following officers were elected at the first meeting; viz: William H. Robinson, president; Gilbert Bradford, first vice pre- sident; W. Y. Buck, second vice president; Avery Thomas, re- cording secretary; George Martin, corresponding secretary; James H. Ryther, treasurer; John A. Haddock, collector; Lo- renzo Finney, O. L. Wheelock, C. E. Hubbard, John Jordan, Timothy Turner, managers; George Burr, A. Freeman, A. H. Burdick, commissioners finance.
Mechanics' Mutual Protections were formed at Watertown, Brownville and Theresa, which were of short continuance.
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The Jefferson County Bank.
CHAPTER XI.
BANKS-CORPORATIONS.
The earliest movement in the county towards a bank, may be traced back to the early part of 1807, when a petition was for- warded to the legislature, praying that that body would loan to the people of the county $150,000, on good landed security, in bills of credit, and that the same be made a legal tender in the pay- ment of debts. Mr. Kent, from the committee to whom this was referred, reported, that the constitution of the United States prohibited the state governments from making any thing but gold and silver coin, a legal tender of debts, and therefore the prayer could not be granted .*
In 1816, concerted efforts were made for a bank, but the loca- tion prevented entire unity of action.
The Jefferson County Bank was incorporated by an act passed April 17, 1816, on a petition from John Brown, Roswel Woodruff, Eliphalet Edmonds, David I. Andrus, Ethel Bron- son, Jabez Foster, Egbert Ten Eyck, Hoel Lawrence, Frederick White, Abel Cole and others, to continue until January 1, 1832, with a capital not exceeding $400,000, in shares of $50 each. Elisha Camp, of Houndsfield, Jesse Hopkins, of Henderson, Eben- ezer Wood, of Ellisburgh, Jabez Foster, of Watertown, Clark Allen, of Lorraine, Samuel C. Kennedy, of Rodman, Ethel Bron- son, of Rutland, John Durkee, of Champion, Thomas Brayton, of Wilna, Silvius Hoard, of Antwerp, Musgrove Evans, of Le Ray, John Paddock of Brownville, and Eliphalet Edmonds, of Adams, were appointed to apportion the stock and locate the site of the banking house. These met at Watertown, and after a prolonged and exciting strife between Watertown and Brown- ville, the latter, uniting with other interests, succeeded in getting it located at Adams, more from jealousy of Watertown, than with the hope or expectation of benefiting Adams. John Pad- dock was generally charged with producing this result. The first directors, elected June 20, 1817, were John Paddock, Hoel Lawrence, Ebenezer Wood, Clark Allen, David 1. Andrus, S. F. Hooker, Elisha Camp, Frederick White, David Hale, Samuel C. Kennedy, John Cowles, Eliphalet Edmonds and Joseph Sterling. The first president was J. Paddock. The bank went into opera- tion on a capital of $80,000, but in June, 1819, it failed. By an act of November 19, 1824, the bank was removed to Water- town and, April 29, 1829, the charter was extended to January 1,
* Assembly Journal, 1807, p. 297.
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Sackets Harbor Bank.
1854. The directors, by this act, were required to own at least $500 stock. The charter was farther amended April 14, 1830.
May 19, 1836, the capital was in- creased from $80,- 000 to $200,000, JETTERSON COUNTY and commissioners ANK. appointed to re- ceive subscrip- tions in shares of ten dollars each. In 1837, an inef- fectual effort was made to get this act repealed. In 1828 it became one of the safety fund banks, and its dividends since Jefferson County Bank, Watertown. 1830 have aver- aged ten per cent. Its presidents have been, John Paddock, 1816; Frederick White, to fill vacancy; Jabez Foster, 1817-19; Ethel Bronson, 1820-5; Jabez Foster, 1825-6; Perley Keyes, from 1826-33; Micah Sterling, 1833-4; Orville Hungerford, 1834-45; Norris M. Woodruff, 1845-54. Cashiers, James Wood, 1816-20; O. Hungerford, 1820-33; Orville V. Brainard, 1833-54. On the 21st of October, 1853, articles of association of a bank of the above name, were filed in the secretary's office, to take effect on the expiration of the charter, and continue about fifty years, with $400,000 capital, and the following directors: N. M. Woodruff, G. C. Sherman, R. Lansing, Eli Farwell, T. H. Camp, J. H. Fish, A. Ely, O. V. Brainard, William C. Pierre- pont, M. Coburn and D. D. Otis.
A public meeting was held at Watertown, November 27th, 1832, at which strong resolutions were passed in favor of the formation of a new bank, and a committee consisting of J. Fair- banks, N. M. Woodruff, L. Paddock, E. Ten Eyck, John Fay, L. Beebee, J. Sigourney, William Ruger, and L. G. Hoyt, were ap- pointed to draft a petition for a charter for an institution to be called the Watertown Bank. In this petition it was set forth that an increase of bank capital was necessary to meet the growing wants of the county. The natural advantages offered by the lake and St. Lawrence for commerce, and by Black River for manufactures, with the high susceptibility of the soil for agricultural improvement, were adduced in support of the ap-
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Associated Banks.
plication. The measure failed of accomplishment, and a second bank was not established at Watertown until after the passage of the general banking law in 1838. Some of those, however, who took an active part in this movement, joined in establishing the Sackets Harbor Bank, which was incorporated April 28th, 1834, with a capital of $200,000, in shares of $50 each, and a limitation of existence to January 1st, 1865. Thomas Loomis, Jesse Smith, Daniel Wardwell, Thomas J. Angel, Azariah Walton, Joseph Sheldon, Woodbridge C. George, Henry H. Coffeen, and Noadiah Hubbard, were named commissioners for receiving subscriptions for stock, and the corporation had the usual powers, immunities, and restrictions of such institutions. Its affairs were to be managed by 13 directors, elected annually on the 2d Tuesday of June, by ballot, who were to choose one of their number president. The charter of the Sackets Harbor Bank came before the legislature for repeal in April, 1837, upon a com- plaint that its officers had received and paid out certain checks of a business firm, contrary to the provision of the law prohibit- ing the circulation of bills less than $5. The bill for repeal having passed the assembly April 7th, large public meetings were held at Watertown, Brownville, Sacketts Harbor and elsewhere, calling upon the senate to prevent its passage. It was apprehended that the sudden withdrawal of so large a sum from the circulation of the county, would seriously derange its business, and the bank and its officers were defended against the calumnies that had been circulated. These efforts proved unavail- ing, and the bill for repeal became a law May 12th, 1838, the directors being appointed trustees, until others were appointed to settle its affairs .* On the 17th of April, 1837, the charter was restored,t and, March 25th, 1852, an act was passed authorizing a change of its place of business to Buffalo, upon the concur- rence of two-thirds of its directors. This measure had been several years contemplated, and repeated applications had been made to the legislature, which had been defeated. The act was at length procured without the knowledge of many citizens who had previously opposed it.
Associated Banks .- A meeting of citizens of the county was held in December, 1838, for the purpose of organizing a bank under the general law. O. Hungerford, L. Paddock, N. M. Woodruff, W. H. Angel, and H. D. Sewall, were appointed to arrange the articles of association. The Bank of Watertown, was accordingly formed, commencing operations January 26, 1839, with $100,000 capital, the first president being L. Pad-
* Affidavits and statements on the subject occur in Assembly Documents, 1838, numbers 243, 245, 296, 297, 298.
t Report of committee with statements. Assembly Documents 1838, v. No. 278.
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Individual Banks.
dock, and the first cashier William H. Angel. The presidents have been L. Paddock, Willard Ives, John L. Goldsmid, and T. C. Chittenden. It is at present principally owned by William H. Angel, and on the 25th of November 1853, its capital was reported at $47,779.
The Watertown Bank and Loan Company commenced ope- ration January 20, 1839, with a capital of $100,000, in equal shares, by G. C. Sherman and Noadiah Hubbard.
The Merchants' Exchange Bank, organized January, 1849, was designed to transact a business of loan and deposit, without the issue of its own bills, by using specie and the bills of other banks. All but one per cent of its capital was held by G. C. Sherman, but the bank was never got in efficient operation and has been merged in the last.
Black River Bank, was opened May 25, 1844, with $100,000 capital, of which L. Paddock owned nine tenths, the remainder being held by Oscar and Edwin L. Paddock.
Union Bank, at Watertown, was opened August 18, 1822, with a capital of $100,000, the principal parties on the articles of association in the order of their interest, being Henry Keep, George S. Goodale, N. M. Woodruff, Walter N. Woodruff, Abner Baker, who subscribed $2000 and upwards, Washington Genet, Orin C. Utley, L. Paddock, Daniel Lee, J. H. Dutton, and E. Q. Sewell subscribed $1000 each, and others to less sums.
INDIVIDUAL BANKS .- Wooster Sherman's Bank, Watertown, opened January 8, 1812.
Henry Keep's Bank, Watertown, opened September 28, 1847, discontinued.
Mechanics' Bank, Watertown, by Henry Keep, begun Sep- tember 17, 1851, has no office for discount and deposit. Cap- ital $20,000.
Citizens' Bank, established by Keep at Watertown, August 1, 1850, afterwards removed to Ogdensburgh, and in August, 1852, at Fulton, Oswego County.
Frontier Bank, established by Keep at Watertown. Removed in the spring of 1851, to Potsdam.
Hungerford Bank, by Solon D. Hungerford, opened at Adams October 31, 1845. Articles of association under the general law were filed September 17, 1853, with the same name, and the capital increased from $50,000 to $125,000. The first directors under the new form were S. D. Hungerford, pre- sident, M. R. Patrick, vice president, Jeremiah Griswold, and Philander Smith, of Adams, Alonzo Bradner, of New York, Samuel Wardwell, of Rome, Roswell Kinney, of Mannsville, George Gates, of Rodman, and N. M. Wardwell, of Pulaski, di- rectors; George W. Bonds, cashier.
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Biographical Notices.
State Bank at Sackets Harbor, owned by E. B. Camp, capital $50,000. Begun business May 17, 1852.
Bank of Carthage, owned by Hiram McCollom, begun July 17, 1852. Capital, November 25, 1853, $18,600.
In January, 1838, an attempt was made to establish an asso- ciated bank at Carthage, with $100,000 capital. On the 7th of January, 1839, $30,000 had been subscribed, and on the 22d of February, an election of officers occurred, but nothing further was done.
The Jefferson County Mutual Insurance Company was formed by a special act, March 8, 1836, by which Alpheus S. Greene, Jason Fairbanks, Orville Hungerford, George C. Sherman, Eli Farwell, Norris M. Woodruff, Thomas Loomis, Isaac H. Bronson, John Safford, Edmond Kirby, William Boom, Joel Woodworth, and Joseph Sheldon and their associates, were incorporated during a period of twenty years. The directors named in the act met on the 17th of March, elected Norris M. Woodruff, president; A. S. Greene, vice president; Robert Lansing, secre- tary; N. M. Woodruff, A. S. Greene, J. Fairbanks, G. C. Sher- man and E. Farwell, executive committee. The affairs of this company have been closed several years.
The Agricultural Mutual Insurance Company, at Evans' Mills, completed its organization March 12, 1853, under the general law, with a capital of $100,000. On the 13th of Octo- ber, they numbered between 700 and 800 policies, on farm property only. No losses had been sustained, and a cash fund of $3000 had been acquired, after paying expenses. The first officers were Alden Adams, president; Isaac Munson, vice presi- dent; W. P. Babcock, Wolcott Steele, Joseph Fayel, Evelin F. Carter and Ira Beaman, directors; L. Paddock, treasurer; U. A. Wright, secretary; Earl B. Fowler, general agent.
CHAPTER XII.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
The following biographical notices embrace but a part of the subjects which we would have gladly included, had the data been accessible. There is, perhaps, no duty more delicate to the historian, than to speak of those who have but recently acted upon the stage of life; whose associates are still living; whose acts yet exist in their consequences, and whose claim upon
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Major General Brown.
the regard of the future can not properly be determined until time shall have settled the merits of actions by existing in their results. We should have regarded our labor as unfinished, had we failed to record our tribute of respect to the memories of those who took a leading part in the business of the county during the first half century of its existence, and who laid the foundations of society, organized the institutions, and planned the improvements which have given prosperity to the present, and promise infinite advantages to the future. With societies, as with individuals, character is, to a great degree, formed in early life, or, to use the poetic figure;
" Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined,"
and we shall always find those, in every community, who have impressed their own characters upon public movements, and given direction to the current that time will only confirm and strengthen. In this chapter we shall include only those who are deceased; and must acknowledge the imperfection of several ar- ticles, from want of authentic materials.
AMOS BENEDICT, one of the earliest lawyers at Watertown, was a native of Middlebury, Ct. graduated at Yale College in 1800, studied law with Tappan Reeve, of Litchfield, and settled in Watertown in 1807. He was the second district attorney, a leading member of the bar, and died about the period of the war.
ETHEL BRONSON, a native of Connecticut, removed to Rutland in 1805, and assumed the agency of that town and a part of Hen- derson, of which his brother had become the purchaser. He was thrice elected to the legislature, and held for many years the office of judge of the county court. At the time of his death, in 1825, he was president of the Jefferson County Bank. He was not ambitious for public office; but in those qualities that make a good citizen, a kind neighbor, and a valued friend, he was preeminent. He was kind and liberal, almost to a fault; yet public spirited, and enterprising, and possessing a cha- racter marked with integrity and probity; he was beloved by his friends, and respected by all who knew him.
MAJOR GENERAL JACOB BROWN was born in Falls Township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the banks of the Delaware, and within sight of the city of Trenton, on the 9th of May, 1775, and was the fourth descendant of George Brown, an English immi- grant, who had settled in the province two years before the arrival of Penn. The descent from this emigrant was by Sam- uel, John, and Samuel, Brown, all of them Quakers, and by pro- fession, farmers. His father had married a daughter of Joseph Wright, a celebrated Quaker preacher, and she possessed a degree
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Major General Brown.
of intelligence and strength of mind seldom equaled; qualities which were developed in her son at an early period, and shone con- spicuously through life.
The family consisted of John (afterwards Judge Brown of Brownville), Jacob, Joseph, Mary (Mrs. Newland, of Fishkill, deceased), Benjamin, Samuel (Major Brown, formerly of Brown- ville), Hannah (Mrs. B. Skinner, still living), William, Abi ( Mrs. M. Evans) and Joseph. Samuel Brown, his father, possessed a considerable estate, and gave his family the benefit of such in- struction as the vicinity afforded, and for one or two seasons, Jacob, with his brother John, attended an academy at Trenton, and his education was completed at the winter's fire, at home, where he kept a small school for instructing the younger mem- bers of the family.
An unfortunate speculation had deprived his father of the means of affording him a finished education, and, at the age of sixteen, he found himself reduced to the necessity of looking out for himself, and he even conceived the idea of retrieving the for- tunes of his family, and from that moment set himself assiduous- ly to the work .* From eighteen to twenty-one, he was employed to teach a large school in Crosswicks, New Jersey, and having qualified himself for the duties of a land surveyor, he spent one year in the Miami country, in Ohio, to which section his father had conceived the idea of removing, but he returned in 1798, and was again induced to take charge of a Quaker school in New York. It being a period of political excitement, he frequently took a part in these discussions, and in one of them, he formed an ac- quaintance with Gouverneur Morris, which subsequently ripened into a warm friendship. He, about the same time, became ac- quainted with Rodolph Tillier, the agent of the Chassanis compa- ny, who made with him a journey to his father's house, and con- cluded a bargain with S. Brown for the purchase of a large tract at two dollars per acre. In February, 1799, having given up his school, he started for his future home, the location of which had not been definitely fixed, and arrived at the French Settlement, at the high falls on Black River, between which place and Utica he made several journeys during the winter, and brought in a quantity of provisions preparatory to his final removal to a loca- tion he had decided upon forming, at the head of navigation of Black River. In March, as soon as the river was clear of ice, he launched a boat upon its swollen and angry waters, and floated down to the Long Falls. From thence, in company with Chambers, Thomas Ward and a few hired men, he took the route of the French Road, then nearly opened, and when he sup- posed they had gone far enough, struck off towards the river, which
*National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans, part xx.
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Major General Brown.
he happened to reach at the present village of Brownville. He was here so struck with the unexpected advantages offered by the fall at the mouth of the Philomel Creek, then swollen by spring floods, that he resolved to make his stand here, where the water-power appeared sufficient for every purpose required, and the river, with some improvements below, could be navigated by boats.
On the 27th of May, he was joined by his father's family, who came by the tedious navigation of the Mohawk, Oneida Lake, Oswego, and Lake Ontario. He commenced at once clear- ing lands, and the next year erecting mills, &c., the details of which are given in our history of Brownville. In September and October, 1799, he, with his brother Samuel, surveyed the townships of Hague and Cambray, in St. Lawrence County, and until the opening of a land office at Le Raysville, in 1807, he acted as the agent of Mr. Le Ray, in the settlement of his lands in Brownville and adjacent towns. As the opening of roads is one of the first and most direct methods of promoting new settle- ments, this subject early engaged his attention, and he was mainly instrumental in procuring the construction of the state roads, one in 1801, from Redfield by way of Adams, and one from Utica by the Black River valley. Of both of these he was appointed a commissioner for locating and opening, and he succeeded in getting them both to terminate at his location, in Brownville, where himself, his father and brothers, had opened a store, built mills, commenced the manufacture of potash, which found a ready market in Kingston and Montreal, and made extensive clearings for raising grain. In 1804, the question of forming one or more new counties from Oneida, became the absorbing theme, and a convention was held at Denmark, Nov. 20, 1804, to decide upon the application, at which most of the delegates are said to have gone prepared to vote for one county, but from the influence of Mr. Brown, and Gen. Martin, of Martinsburgh, were induced to apply for the erection of two new counties. In locating the county seat, the most active efforts were made in each county, Martinsburgh and Lowville being the rivals in Lewis, and Watertown and Brownville in Jefferson. Mr. Brown was the principal advocate of the latter, but the mass of settlement was then in the southern towns, and the portion north of Black River was known to be low, level, and (in a state of nature) much of it swampy. The settlements that had been begun at that early day, at Perch River, Chaumont, and on the St. Lawrence, were visited by severe sickness, and the idea was entertained, or at least held forth to the commissioners who located the site, that it could never be inhabited. Mr. Brown next endeavored to procure the location on the north bank of the
Major General Brown.
river, near Watertown, and made liberal offers of land, for the public use, but the perseverance and intrigues of Mr. Coffeen and others, succeeded in fixing the site at its present location.
After the opening of the land office at Le Raysville, Mr. Brown continued for two or three years devoted to his private affairs, and meanwhile received unsolicited, commissions of cap- tain, and of colonel of the 108th regiment of militia. His pro- motion in the line of military life, is said to have arisen from his avowed aversion to frequent and expensive military parades in time of peace, calling off the inhabitants from their labors in the fields, and encouraging habits of intemperance which in those days were too frequently the accompaniment of such gatherings. His views on the subject of militia organizations, approached more nearly to our present system; and in selecting him for of- fice, the people were convinced, that while he omitted nothing conducive to the public safety, he would cause them no needless expense of time and money for parades. In his public and pri- vate conduct, and daily life, they saw him in possession of sa- gacity and intelligence, that led them to place confidence in his resources, should emergencies call for their exercise, and the in- tegrity of his private life convinced them, that the public trusts with which he might be honored, would be faithfully preserved. Our foreign relations at that time foreboded collision, and the cloud of war that darkened the political horizon, and filled the timid with alarms, gave a well-grounded expectation that a cri- sis was approaching, although it was uncertain which of the two great powers of Europe would declare against us, and the parties that divided our people, were far from being harmonious in opinions of the relative expediency of hostilities with either. The opinion of Mr. Brown on this subject may be gathered from the following letter to the governor written upon the receipt of his commission as Brigadier General of militia.
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